


The Woeful Tale of the Kingdom of Prussia

by victoriousscarf



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-04-18
Updated: 2013-04-18
Packaged: 2017-12-08 20:15:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,586
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/765543
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/victoriousscarf/pseuds/victoriousscarf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>From 1260 to 2004, the Kingdom of Prussia, and all his other titles therein.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Woeful Tale of the Kingdom of Prussia

**Author's Note:**

> I started this story a long time ago and I've written it completely out of order over time. 
> 
> EDIT As of June 28, 2015 the first chapter has been completely rewritten. I'm actually finally trying to push and write the story in an order where it can be posted because I have over 20 pages of out of order scenes and ideas for a ton more and just. Need to bring this story together and home. But I started writing it long enough ago that the first chapter needed some edits before I could move on and continue. (Like, five to six years, my writing has changed a lot). (On the other hand it says a lot 5-6 years later I'm still so gone on these characters, and still into this story).

1240

The knights stared at the small albino child that stood defiantly in front of them.

“We shouldn’t we kill you?” the leader of the knights asked harshly.

“You can’t kill a nation so easily,” the boy sneered.

The knights howled with laughter. “You are hardly that,” the leader said. “Besides, your people are dying. Eventually it would be no more difficult to wring your neck than a mortal boy.”

“You’re right, my people are dying. That’s why I need new ones,” the boy said, crossing his arms over his chest as the tattered remains of his blood stained clothing whipped around him in the wind.

The knight went to his knees in front of the boy. “Oh?”

“You want to build up outposts, become powerful, maybe even become a kingdom. You don’t have a nation. You’d have to birth one, and raise it and that takes time. I’m already established in this land. It's a simple solution isn't it?” There was desperation in his eyes but his voice remained steady and strong.

The knight raised his eyebrows. “Really? But you are the spirit of a nation we have slain. We've been fighting you for years. We will continue the fight as long as we have to.”

The boy shrugged. “Only those that are strongest matter to me.”

1242

Prussia stared at the other tiny nation in front of him, a shock of ash blond hair and purple eyes peeking at him over a scarf. “Who are you?” he asked, having wondered off from the knights during the night, to get a better scope of the land. Even though he had joined with the knights, he still felt insecure around them sometimes.

“I'm me,” the other nation said, tilting his head. “I wanted to see who had come.”

“Well, I'm Prussia,” he said and stopped. “Or, rather, the Teutonic Order, or, the Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem, if you want to get really, uh, technical.” 

The other nation was still staring at him. 

“Do you think we'll be friends?” he asked and Prussia drew back slightly. 

“Are you Christian?” he asked. “I mean, are you at least not pagan?” And the word still tasted like ash in his mouth, like blood and screams. He had a people, and though he had abandoned them already, he could feel them dying sometimes, deep in his bones. 

“Does that matter?” the other nation asked.

“Yeah, it matters,” Prussia said, putting his hands on his hips and throwing his head back. “I'd have to fight you, if you weren't.”

“Oh,” the nation said, and the sound echoed with vast expanses of loneliness.

“That's not so bad,” Prussia said after a beat. “Fighting, I mean.”

“I am tired,” the nation said. “Everyone seems to want to beat me up.”

“Well, fight back,” Prussia said. “Fight back and become strong enough they can't any more. Maybe then you would be worth my time.”

The nation looked up at him slowly, a tiny smile on his face. “Alright,” he chirped.

A few days later, when Prussia and too many of his knights fell under the ice and into a freezing lake, Prussia regretted those words. 

1314

“Why are we here?” Prussia asked, jogging to keep up with his Grand Master.

“We belong the to empire, I've told you before,” the Grand Master replied.

“Why?” Prussia asked again.

“Because we are backed by them,” he said. “We have our legitimacy and our funding and our orders from them.”

“Are they powerful enough to control us?” Prussia asked, looking around and the Grand Master scowled.

“It is not about control,” he said, as they passed several other children, about as tall as Gilbert. He recognized them as fellow nations, but was not sure if the Grand Master did, as the human kept walking. Prussia turned, still trying to keep up with the Grand Master and found that the short nation with cropped blond hair and black robes and hat was staring back at him.

For a moment their eyes held before the other nation looked away and Prussia had to as well.

1618

Prussia crossed his legs on the table in front of him and leaned his chair back, watching the man across the table from him warily. “I know you’ve been maneuvering yourself to control my lands,” he said, his arms crossed over his chest. “But I’m curious to know why you called this meeting.”

“Your Duke, Albrecht Frederick, is dead, is he not? I am the new Duke in Prussia.”

Prussia managed not to roll his eyes. “So, are you going to explain to me the point of getting my territory or am I going to have to listen to some useless and senseless speeches?”

The man smiled softly. “In good time.”

“I’m bored already,” Prussia declared, with an exaggerated roll of his shoulders.

“Not for long, I hope. Listen to what I have to say.”

“You’re not one with giving me much of a choice here,” Prussia said, still trying to seize the noble across from him up.

“As you know, my country, Brandenburg, does not have a nation representative as yet.”

Prussia raised his eyebrows. “What, and you want _me_ to be your nation or something? Seriously?”

“Hush and let me explain.” Sulky, Prussia pushed his chair back farther but fell silent. “Basically, to answer your question, yes. No, don’t say anything yet. We are barely a loose confederation of territory. We need a unifying force. We need more land. We need access to the ocean. We need strength. We have no natural barriers. At any time a stronger nation could decide to destroy us. We need everything we can get. We do not have the time to raise a nation spirit of our own. You, though, are a nation with no country of your own.”

“I still have my land,” Prussia said, stretching.

“But you serve under another country. How long do you think you’ll be able to bear that?”

Prussia scowled. “I’ve been bearing it well enough. Besides, even if I did agree with you, or decide I wanted something different, I am a representative of my people. _They_ don’t want your leadership.”

“It’s true,” the Elector John Sigismund agreed. “As Prussia, I believe you would have to say that. But tell me, how does Gilbert feel about being only a Duchy? About not even being his own nation anymore?”

Throwing his head back, Prussia burst out into laughter. “Oh, you are good.”

The Elector inclined his head.

Prussia let his chair fall back to the ground and leaned forward on the table between them. “I cannot promise my people are going to greet you with open arms. I’m not even going to promise that I’m going to disagree with them. You want my loyalty? Earn it. You want theirs? Earn it. But we can certainly talk.”

1648

Prussia stood with Frederick William on some hill in their kingdom, looking out over the land.

“We have no natural barriers,” Frederick William said quietly and Prussia’s stomach twisted. John Sigismund had said the same thing to him barely thirty years ago, but he had no idea how true those words would prove. Others had ravished his land before, but then he’d had the option of joining them. He had not been pressed down by Sweden and then stabbed through the gut. His entire body ached, and the very thought of another country rampaging through him made him retch.

“Our army will be our barrier.”

24 January 1712

Sitting next to Frederick William I, King in Prussia, Prussia waited for news of the birth. The queen, Sophia, had gone into labor hours ago, and he was impatient to see the baby that in time would be his king. Frederick William, on the other hand, seemed to be more interested in the papers in front of him. Reports of the army, Prussia assumed.

Finally, a servant brought out a small bundle. She handed it to Frederick William, but he didn’t look like he knew what to do with it. Prussia leaned over to coo at the baby, and earned a strange look from the father.

“One may only hope he grows up to be a strong king,” Frederick William said and handed Prussia the baby when he held out his hands.

“He will,” Prussia said with assurance, feeling the same swelling pride he always felt upon seeing a new baby in the royal family. “He's going to be great.”

6 November 1730

Prussia sneaked into the fortress and wanted to punch something.

He, a great and wonderful, brilliant even, nation, had to sneak without his king’s knowledge, into a fortress, to see his crown prince. Of course, he couldn’t actually sneak past all the armed guards, but he had hidden beneath a cloak and stuck to the shadows the whole way to the prison itself. Then he had commanded and bossed the guards around until they gave in and let him inside. While a nation might not have the political power, they commanded respect and no one questioned him going to visit Frederick, even though the king had ordered no one in. He was not technically a human and thus figured the order did not quite apply to him.

The entire thing was ridiculous. Of course, since he showed himself to the guards, soon enough Frederick William would know that he had gone to visit the crown prince (if he still was the crown prince) and the king would be furious at his nation.

Prussia figured it was a chance he was willing to take. Frederick William could never really do anything to him, though he’d rant and rail and probably throw something at the nation a few times for good measure. It was what the king could do to his son that worried Prussia.

He opened the door to Frederick’s small cell, and found the crown prince standing at the window, even though it was dusk and he couldn’t see out anymore.

“I hate him,” Frederick said softly. “And no one can know.”

“I can know,” Prussia replied, sitting down on the small cot.

Frederick turned to him and his eyes were still red and puffy. The way his bottom lip was quivering, Prussia figured he was on the verge of crying again. “Why did he do that?” he asked quietly. “Why did he kill him? Why him and not me? I begged and begged him…”

Prussia wrapped his arms around himself and leaned forward. “That’s probably why. You’re the one who ran away, and failed. Why didn’t you expect this?”

Frederick flinched. “I thought we’d get away and we’d be safe.”

“You had not guarantee of that,” Prussia growled. “None at all except the shitty word of Eyebrows. And he is not particularly trustworthy. There was very little chance of you succeeding and now you’re crying over the fact you failed?”

The crown prince’s face went white.

Prussia rubbed a hand over his face. “Look, you messed up, you downright failed, and someone other than you paid for it. Though,” he paused and let his eyes roam over the boy. “You’re certainly paying for it too. But you’re still the crown prince and you better remain so. Suck it up, boyo. Be as groveling to your father as he wants you to be, or you’ll be executed next.”

“You’re just angry that I didn’t tell you about it,” Frederick said stiffly, angry.

“Yeah, actually, I really am,” Prussia snapped. “Because if you had bothered to talk to me, I could have told you what an idiot you were being.”

“I can’t stand it anymore!” Frederick yelled and stood there shaking as he glared at Prussia. “I can’t stand him anymore. I can’t bear to live under him like this.”

Prussia rested his chin on one hand and sighed. “I know. But he’s still my king. But someday I want _you_ to be my king, so I’m going to do everything I can to make that happen.”

“Why?” Frederick asked, sulky.

“Because _you_ are going to be my king,” Prussia said. “I am going to make that happen, do _not_ take that away from me.”

Slowly, Frederick stepped forward and sank down on the cot next to Prussia. “I hate him.”

“Then hate him. Just bury it and pretend you love him.”

“I hate Austria too,” Frederick said, crossing his hands in front of his face, his elbows on his raised knees.

Prussia glanced out of the corner of his eye at the crown prince. “What the place do to deserve that?”

“They want me to marry an Austrian choice, not a British one,” he said. “They try to control our court, as if we’re lesser than them. As if we’re puppets for them to move around,” he sneered. “I’m sick to death of them.”

Prussia shrugged. “Austria certainly does try to be high and mighty.”

Frederick turned suddenly to the nation. “Prussia,” he said quietly. “Do you love me?”

Prussia choked and turned to the other. “What?”

“You’re the only one who acts like you care,” Frederick said quietly.

“What about your sister?”

Frederick looked at his nation like he was an idiot for a moment. “She’s not the one who disobeyed my father to be here, nor the one begging him for my life.”

Clearing his throat, Prussia shook his head. “Only because he can’t actually harm me like he can everyone else. I’m his nation, he needs me.” Though, sometimes the king seemed to forget that.

“That’s not all of it though,” Frederick said, giving Prussia a long hard look and Prussia really did not like that. “You knew about me and him,” he continued. “And all you looked was jealous.”

Prussia snorted. “I do _not_ get jealous. Especially not of mortal boys like Hans Hermann von Katte.”

Frederick flinched at von Katte's full name. He looked away for a moment, shaking as he stared out the dark window before turning back to Prussia.

When Frederick leaned forward suddenly to kiss him, Prussia did not object to it. Instead he tilted his head just enough to make the kiss actually interesting and pulled the slight prince to him. “You’ve got to eat more,” he said when Frederick broke away. Frederick stared at him, his eyes watery and dropped his head to Prussia's shoulder. Unsure what to do with his hands, Prussia wrapped them around his waist and held on, as Frederick shook against him.

Prussia spent the night in the small cell, and none of the guards come to bother them. The next morning, when he returned to the side of his king, Frederick William was furious. The yelling and the punch to the face was worth it though.

16 December 1740

Prussia reined his horse in at the top of the hill. “Are you sure this is a good idea?” he asked his young king, who rode beside him.

Frederick II shrugged and looked over the field with him. “Austria is weak. France is more than willing to help us. Russia won’t interfere, and England’s too busy with Spain.”

“You’re taking a lot of risk,” Prussia said. “Especially since it’s a personal hatred you have for Austria.”

Slowly, Frederick turned to look at his nation and a sly look was on his face. “Are you rejecting the idea of battle, my nation?”

Prussia’s face broke out into a grin. “Not at all.”

They rode down the hill together into Silesia.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Historical notes:
> 
> 1242 was the Battle of the Ice between Russia and Prussia (It's also in season 5 of the anime). By 1260 all the native Prussian were considered killed. 
> 
> There's a historical argument that Prussia militarized due to a lack of natural defensive borders and the fact they (as well as the rest of the Holy Roman Empire) was pretty much the battlefield other nations played their conflicts out on. During the 30 Years War especially, Prussia got mauled by other nations marching back and forth across it. 
> 
> Frederick the Great and his father did not get along to the point Fredrick tried to run away with his tutor/possible lover and when caught his companion was executed in front of him.


End file.
